Stanford Medicine Scope - November 28th, 2016 - by Margarita Gallardo
In 1987, 2-year-old Corie Crowe’s heart was failing, but her family’s insurance didn’t cover pediatric heart transplants. Determined to get the help her daughter needed, Corie’s mother Carlis contacted local station KPIX-TV, hoping to attract some attention to their story. And it worked: In January 1988, Corie underwent transplant surgery at Stanford and received her new heart.
Last week — just before Thanksgiving — Corie, who works as a volunteer for Donor Network West, checked off another thing of her list. She reunited with retired KPIX-TV reporter Barbara Rodgers and thanked her for helping her get the life-saving surgery. “I said to myself that if I live to be 30, then I want to meet everyone who was involved in allowing me to live [this long],” Corie, who is one of the longest surviving heart transplant recipients in the country, says in the video above.
Daniel Bernstein, MD, Corie’s cardiologist and director of the Children’s Heart Center at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, is also included in the piece.